Musselman Grew Up With Knight, However, Similarities End There

Bill Musselman got his first major coaching job the same week his boyhood buddy, Bob Knight, got hired at Indiana. Since that summer of 1971, their stories could not be more different.

Knight, of course, is still stalking the sideline at Indiana. Musselman has changed jobs more than a dozen times, even changed professions. Now the head coach at the University of South Alabama, Musselman is a study of a man obsessed with coaching--and with proving his way can work.

“I never want to be anything but a coach,” Musselman said. “The thing I love is that I can prepare for hours.”

Musselman’s coaching resume contains 12 entries, not including high school jobs: Ashland College, University of Minnesota, San Diego Sails, Virginia Squires, Reno Bighorns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Sarasota Stingers, Tampa Bay-Rapid City Thrillers, Albany Patroons, Minnesota Timberwolves, Rochester Renegades and now South Alabama, a Sun Belt Conference school in the Gulf Coast city of Mobile.

All told, Musselman has coached in high school, two college levels and four professional leagues.

One team, the Sails of the ABA, folded after only 11 games in 1975-76 (Musselman was 3-8). He was hired later that year by the Virginia Squires of the same league, then went into real estate until 1978, when coaching called again.

He was hired at the University of Minnesota the same week Knight went from West Point to Bloomington, Ind. On the way to their new jobs, the Ohio natives ran into each other at the airport. A few months later, they coached their first Big Ten games against each other.

The story of how Musselman got from one job to the next surpasses the extent of his travels.

Take his last NBA job, for instance. As Musselman tells the story, he was fired by the Minnesota Timberwolves for the most bizarre reason.

“I won too much,” Musselman said smugly.

Musselman took over the expansion team in 1989 and tried to assemble a winner quickly. Doing so, he reasoned, would require importing tested players who didn’t need to be taught much.

So he went to what he knew--the CBA.

Musselman brought in supposedly used up goods like Sidney Lowe. Minnesota won a respectable 22 games, the most by the four expansion teams that season.

“I got a plaque,” Musselman said. “Here, I’ve got it right here. It says, ‘Congratulations for surviving the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 1989-90 season.”’

The ‘Wolves improved the next year, winning 29 games.

“We were going uphill with that team,” Musselman said.

But the coach’s strategy didn’t sit well with Timberwolves management, which feared Musselman was building a team that was not good enough to make the playoffs, yet not bad enough to get any lottery picks. So they fired him.

“They wanted more Ping-Pong balls,” Musselman said.

Ironically, while ending up with two lottery picks--Christian Laettner and J.R. Rider--the Timberwolves have not equaled Musselman’s win total since he left. Minnesota has won 15, 19, 20 and 21 games the last four seasons. This year, the ‘Wolves are 11-29.

“I told them there were no assurances,” Musselman said.

Musselman’s specialty is breaking down the opponent’s weakness, finding the slightest hole in each player’s game. Have trouble scoring with your left hand from the right block? Musselman will make you. Haven’t missed a jumper from the right elbow all year? Musselman will take it away.

There is no system with Musselman. Basically, he devises new offensive and defensive sets for every game, depending on the tendencies of the opposing players. He learned how to do that in the NBA. The study now consumes hours of his time on breezy Gulf Coast mornings.

“Offensive players in the NBA have one or two things they do well,” Musselman said. “I used to study individual tendencies of NBA players. I had a book like you wouldn’t believe.”

When he coached the Timberwolves, for example, Musselman once beat the Lakers by putting 7-footer Randy Brewer on Magic Johnson. In college, he doesn’t have to worry about shutting down anyone nearly that good.

“I figure if I can use it on that level,” he said, “surely I can use it on this level.”

The hours of preparation--sometimes, Musselman has to push practice back an hour because he’s still studying--have paid dividends for the Jaguars.

South Alabama (9-8, 4-5 Sun Belt) is the nation’s No. 2 defensive team, allowing only 56 points per game. The Jaguars are holding opponents to 22 points below their scoring average.

In a recent game, the Jaguars were down by 6 points with 19 seconds left and won the game.

“Our defense just overwhelmed them,” Musselman said, sounding almost like a mad scientist proud of his freaky creation. “We made two phenomenal defensive plays in 19 seconds.”

The Jaguars were 9-18 last season. Longtime coach Ronnie Arrow was fired after a 1-3 start, with three straight losses by a combined score of 350-222.

Musselman immediately scrapped Arrow’s run-and-gun approach, which took the Jaguars to two NCAA tournaments.

The new coach has also brought to South Alabama his preference for scrap over style. One player, Brian McGovern, typifies Musselman’s kind of player--the kind no one else wanted.

“You wouldn’t even pick him up in a pick up game if you looked at him,” Musselman said. “I was going to make him a manager after about three weeks. Now he’s won two or three games for us.”

Musselman, like some hundred-and-something-year-old revealing the secret to longevity, said there’s one key to surviving such a tumultuous coaching career.

“Ego,” he said. “I have no ego.”